Memes and Blogathons

We all love a good meme don’t we? Andy tagged me in this one so I guess I better play along. Simple stuff, 15 questions, 15 answers. I’ll leave the psychosocial analysis up to you.

To make it more fun I’m not going to tell you the names of the movies, just give you picture clues. If you’ve read this blog before the answers will probably be really obvious anyway. (I’ve nicked this idea from somebody’s Life in Movies post but I can’t for the life of me remember who so sorry!)

Movie you love with a passion

Let’s all die of shock shall we?

Movie you vow never to watch

Because vampires do not sparkle.

Movie that literally left you speechless

Amazing work.

Movie you always recommend

If you haven’t seen it there’s something wrong with you.

Actor/Actress you always watch no matter how crappy the movie

Except Due Date…

Actor/Actress you don’t get the appeal for

Ew.

Actor/Actress living or dead you’d love to meet

Struggled a bit to think of just one, but then he popped into my head and he’s such a legend of cinema

Sexiest actor/actress you’ve ever seen (picture required!)

Dream cast

I don’t really get dream casts, sometimes the best cast are brilliant because they’re thrown together by accident. Big name ensemble casts can sometimes get in the way of themselves by having too many super famous people. You forget to concentrate on the movie becasue you’re too busy spotting names. It’s like being on one of those bus tours.

Favourite actor pairing

I couldn’t think of one. So I went with this.

Favourite movie setting

The haven’t taken the set down yet

Favourite decade for movies

I don’t really have an answer for this one, every decade has some amazing movies and some crap. I’m quite liking the superhero revival of the 00s.

Chick flick or action movie?

If things explode and then guys walk away not looking at the super cool fire ball they just created I’m in.

Hero, villain or anti-hero?

Always.

Black and white or colour?

I’m supposed to do some tagging now, but instead I’ll just say this was fun and you should do it too. Or not. Your choice. 😛

The ever-creative Andy has come up with another fantastic blog-a-thon idea and I’m determined to get in on the fun. The idea is to pick a favourite movie for ever year you’ve been alive. (I think it’s his sneaky way of finding out how old we all are.)

Notoriously indecisive as I am, this is probably going to be a tricky one for me…

1988

That’s right folks, I reach the ripe old age of 23 this August

This is actually pretty tricky, putting aside such cinematic wonders as Crocodile Dundee 2 and Police Academy 5, this is also the year that brought us Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and Big. The dilemma for me though is choosing between two of my favourite films: Rain Man and Die Hard.

In the end I’m going to have to go for Die Hard. It’s just everything I want in an action film.

1989

This one is a bit easier. Although I’m sure that most of you who were around at the time will be picking Batman starring the fantastic Jack Nicholson as The Joker, I have to go for Dead Poet’s Society.

1990

We’ll just gloss over the fact that this was the year that brought us Kindergarten Cop shall we? 1990 also saw the release of the final (and weakest) installment of the Back to the Future trilogy and the second (and weakest) of the Die Hard quadrilogy. Enough of the slightly dodgy though, there was also some good to ring in my terrible twos, including the surprisingly sweet Mermaids starring Cher and Winona Ryder, the quintessential Christmas film Home Alone and this year’s winner: Edward Scissorhands.

1991

This might be an unpopular choice, but I’m going to pick Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves. It might involve a more American Robin than we’re used to in the form of Kevin Costner, but Alan Rickman as the sheriff of Nottingham more than makes up for it.

Here’s where I start to change the game a bit….As I was working through finding films that were released in each year, I came across a problem. There are films that came out in these years that I absolutely adored at the time, and still love now, but there are also films I’ve come back to as an adult that might edge out those childhood favourites if I’m asked to choose. So from here on I’ve kind of cheated a bit. Sorry Andy. Hopefully as well as being a massive cheat, it’s interesting for people other than myself to see what I was into at the time, and what I’ve come back to discover later.

1992

So what was the 3-4 year old watching in ’92? Aladdin of course! Meanwhile the grown up (well, not really) version looks back on ’92 as the year that gave us Reservoir Dogs. Bit of a contrast there….

1993

This was a good year for childhood movies. Not only did it see the release of my guilty pleasure movie Free Willy but also Mrs Doubtfire and Nick Park’s brilliant short film The Wrong Trousers. The best childhood movie of ’93 for me though had to be Cool Runnings. Some people say you know they can’t believe….

Coming back to the ’93 films and I’ve got a tricky choice, but in the end I’m going to pass over Philadelphia in favour of the more feel good Benny and Joon

1994

This seems to be the year of Jim Carrey, with both Ace Ventura and The Mask showcasing his “rubber faced humour” as they love to call it.

There’s no question that the 5-6 year old me’s favourite film is The Lion King, I can still vividly remember going to see it in the cinema. It still a contender for my favourite film of the year , but faces stiff competition from a whole collection of films I love including; Pulp Fiction, Speed, Four Weddings and a Funeral and Priscilla: Queen of the Desert. In the end I’m going to have to go with the perhaps predictable choice, but outstanding film, Forrest Gump

1995

1995 was a big turning point for animated movies. It was the year Toy Story was released, becoming my favourite film instantly and holding on to that top spot for a long time.

Also that year came Apollo 13, Braveheart, Desperado, Die Hard With A Vengeance and The Usual Suspects, but you know what? I still love Woody the most.

1996

This is an easy pick in both directions. My favourite film at the time (and I still love it now, because I’m cool like that) was Muppet Treasure Island. Tim Curry as Long John Silver. Yes.

But the best film to come out of ’96 has to be Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet. I’ve written about it on this blog more than once, but it really is a fantastically made movie and a clever adaptation of the worlds best known love story.

1997

OK, don’t judge me, but as soon as I saw this on the list of ’97 movies I knew what my favourite film at the time was….George of the Jungle

*ahem* Moving on.

Lots of big Sci-Fi movies in ’97: The Fifth Element is an under-rated movie, sitting alongside Men In Black and GATTACCA. This was also the year the world went crazy for Jack and Rose in Titanic, but I’m going to pick a film that you might not know: Donnie Brasco. It’s a great look at what it’s like to infiltrate the world of organised crime, made all the more significant because unlike the many other gangster movies out there this one is true.

1998

In the year I hit double figures I have another very clear early cinema memory; going to see A Bug’s Life. This time it was my little sister (then 5) who was in awe of the big screen for the first time. She stood up for the whole thing.

1998 was also the year of the battle of the killer Meteorites, with both Deep Impact and Armageddon coming up with different ways to prevent the apocalypse. I’ve gotta admit I prefer the ever so slightly cheesy but more fun version involving Bruce Willis and a giant oil drill.

As much as I love both these films though, I think my adult film of ’98 is going to have to be The Truman Show because not only is it a much unloved movie with a beautiful soundtrack that more people should see, but it also proved to me that even though I’d always been a fan of Jim Carrey because his dumb humour made me laugh, it turns out he can actually act too.

1999

It’s 1999! The year I started secondary school and everybody started panicking that the world was going to end when the millenium came. Light relief form these two distressing issues came in the form of a year of great movies including Sleepy Hollow, The Green Mile, Dogma, Notting Hill, The Talented Mr Ripley and 10 Things I Hate About You. This presents both the young and old versions of me with a dilemma because it’s quite hard to pick.

11 year old Katie is torn between The Iron Giant and Toy Story 2. Both amazing films. Both still watched with regualrity. I think my life long love of Pixar will win in the end though.

Meanwhile 11 years older Katie is debating whether I love Fight Club more than The Matrix. I don’t think I do.

Ps. Just in case you were forgetting/mentally blocking/still recevinign counselling for it, this is the year that George Lucas decided three epic Star Wars films wasn’t enough…exit, persued by a Gungan

2000

The world didn’t end. Confused computers didn’t bring civilisation to a standstill and (scarily) we have reached the halfway point in my life. Quite a lot of good “family” films came out this year, and despite being 12 at the time, I still had a soft spot for movies like El Dorado and The Emperors New Groove. Kids movie of the year has to go to Chicken Run, especially because it’s better than the classic its based on.

And while I can imagine a lot of you bloggers out there will pick Gladiator as your movie that kicked off the noughties, for me film of the year is the one that started my transformation from realtively geeky kid into Marvel comic super nerd. Because this is the year they brought out X Men.

And here’s where the split ends….by 2001 I’m 13 and my favourite movies of each year at the time tend to still be firm favourites. That probably has a lot to do with the release of a certain trilogy…There are still a lot of movies that I discovered later, but there’s less of a stark split in tastes as there was in the earlier years, so I’ll stop cheating and go back to only picking one movie per year.

2001

I’m not going to pretend that the next couple of years picks aren’t going to be pretty predictable. I could deliberately pick other movies in the interest of variety, but then I wouldn’t be picking my favourite film, which kind of misses the point now doesn’t it? 2001-2003 was all about three films for me despite other great releases including Donnie Darko and Moulin Rouge in ’01. But there’s never going to be any question that my film of the year is The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring. If I hadn’t been to see that film, this blog would not exist. And that’s about all I can say that you haven’t heard a thousand times.

2002

Not even the release of Spiderman can topple Tolkein in ’02.

The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers

2003

As one trilogy came to an end, Pirates of the Caribbean appeared to fill the hole. But the big finish was definitely worth the wait, and The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King delivered the epic battle scenes and final showdown we’d all been waiting for.

2004

OK, no more LOTR, you can stop rolling your eyes now. ’04 is quite tricky for me because there are a lot of films I really like, but not one that stands out against all the others. There are some fun films like Spiderman 2, The Day After Tomorrow and Wimbledon but I think I’m going to have to go with The Motorcycle Diaries; a recent discovery that really surprised me with how good it was.

2005

Even though one of my current favourites, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang came out in this year, I’m going to have to pick Brokeback Mountain because not only is it a fantastic piece of cinema, it was quite a moment in movie history, if only for showing us just how talented Heath Ledger was.

2006

2006: I left school and set out for the big smoke to start my degree. 3 fantastic years of new friends and new movies followed.

Loads of great films came out this year, but I’m picking Casino Royale because it was the first film I ever saw on the big screen in Leicester Square, with 3 people who are still among my best friends. It also converted me on Bond films.

2007

Lots of sequels in ’07: Spiderman 3, Pirates 3, Die Hard 4, but movie of the year for me has to be Stardust. Because its brilliant 😛

2008

I will never forgive 2008 for Mamma Mia. It still gives me chills. It does try to make up for it though with The Dark Knight and the possibly controversially picked, (but I am a Marvel girl after all) Iron Man.

2009

The year I graduated from uni (the first time). The year I started this blog, and a big year for movies. No wonder I was inspired!

I find it impossible to believe that Avatar came out 3 years ago. I was also converted to the trekkie side by J.J. Abrams and got into endless fights with bloggers about why Wolverine should not be trashed all over the internet. It’s a tough choice, but I think I’m going to pick Sherlock Holmes as my film for ’09, because I can’t wait to see what happens next.

2010

This gets easier as I’ve had less time to get to the cinema and so have seen very few of the films released in the last year. The ones I did see are all strong contenders though; Inception, Iron Man 2, Toy Story 3…I’m going with The King’s Speech. Partly because it got me to finally forgive Colin Firth for the sins of 2008, but mainly because it did what very few films manage to do, it lived up to the hype.

2011

And here we are. Although I still have trouble remembering it actually is 2011. Depressingly this post has made me realise that I haven’t been to the cinema yet this year (is it really May already?) However, with Thor already out, Pirates 4 coming out on May 16th and X Men: First Class hot on its heels in June, I’m sure it’s going to be a very good year. 🙂

And there you have my semi-autobiographical life in movies. I’m back at uni again, and struggling a bit to find time to get to the cinema or post on here, but getting involved in things like this reminds me why I started STRM in the first place. Hope you all enjoy having a read through my tragic taste over they years. Looking forward to being trashed in the comments.

It’s a big year for comic book geeks. Marvel are gearing up for the big finale with the release of Thor and Captain America ready for The Avengers in 2012. Meanwhile, DC have got to find a way to follow up on The Dark Knight and convince me that Ryan Reynolds can get away with defecting to play The Green Lantern.

To celebrate the exciting times ahead, and as a mini celebration of my blog’s second birthday, I think a meme is in order. If I have your email address you’ve probably had a message, if you’re feeling ignored then show me what I’m missing by getting involved!

You’ve probably all seen these videos, sending up the MAC/PC adverts with a debate about who is making better movies. I propose we see how many comic book geeks and movie nerds we can get to join the debate to find out who really is the better franchise once and for all.

Rules:

Title your post either I’m a Marvel or I’m a DC

Give up to 5 reasons why, roughly styled in the opposition format (to get what I mean read mine below)

Tag as many other bloggers as you can and let the arguments begin!

If you’re going to play along let me know, I’ll link all the posts on the blog and tally up the results to see who the bloggers (the people whose opinions matter most of course ;)) think is the ultimate comic book universe.

Marvel have an almost infinite universe of cool characters. The whole world of the X Men could keep me happy for a lifetime without opening up the Avengers. DC basically have Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman The Flash and Green Lantern, who don’t really compare.

Marvel specialises in the flawed hero; Wolverine, Iron Man, even Spiderman has an EMO phase. DC, with the exception of Batman, is a collection of goody goodies, and Bruce Wayne doesn’t really hold a candle to Tony Stark in the playboy-off.

When it comes to movies, DC aren’t even in the same league. Marvel has at least 8 franchises out there, the majority of which include some pretty wicked films (even tha bad ones have redeeming features). DC has Superman and Batman, both of which have their weak points (Superman Returns…ouch) and is only just starting to think about digging into the rest of that pile of comics in the corner.

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A quick post for all of you out there who joined in with/followed the Desert Island DVD fun that went on last month.

Blogginator Andy has now compiled a list of all the movies that were chosen by the 42 bloggers involved, and it makes for interesting reading. Between us we’ve picked all three Bourne movies, the Star Wars and the LOTR trilogies, along with war films, romcoms, musicals, fight flicks, cartoons, comedies, blockbusters and relative unknowns. It’s a diverse group.

So if I was stranded with all the Desert Island bloggers and our picks, I reckon I would be far from bored. But the inevitable debates would probably spark an out-and-out war which would end our little society within about a month…

If you haven’t been paying attention, like me, you may have missed all the fun that’s been going on in the movie blogging world over the last week or so.

It all started with Andy over at Fandango Groovers, who thought it might be an idea to play Desert Island Discs with DVDs. For those of you not from the UK, the game works like this: if you were stranded on an island for an indeterminate length of time, what 8 films would you take with you to keep you sane while you waited for the rescue boat?

You might have noticed that making decisions is not my strong point. Trying to list my favourite films is an impossible task as far as I’m concerned, so I’m taking a slightly different tack here. Yes, all the films I pick will be firm favourites, but, fickle as I am, I reckon if I was stuck on an island I’d need variety to keep me going.

Right, here goes.

My first choice isn’t going to shock anybody. I am, of course, going to pick a Lord of the Rings film. However, cruel fate means I can only pick one, and that’s a harder decision to make. I get asked a lot which is my favourite of the trilogy and I honestly don’t have an answer. I have a particularly soft spot for Fellowship because when I first saw it I had no idea what Middle Earth was or how I would react to the film. In this case though, I’m going to pick Return of the King, for two reasons. First of all, value for money! It’s the longest (and if I take the extended addition, it’s over 4 hours) so it would keep me more than occupied while I sat on my beach; and secondly, it’s got everything in there. Almighty battle scenes, heartbreak and laughter. And of course, I’m never going to get tired of watching it over and over.

Onto number 2. I’m going to need a guns-blazing action flick while I’m stranded and when it comes to action there’s only ever one real choice. Die Hard. Bruce Willis, British actors playing German terrorists, Enough C4 explosive to blow a hole in the world, what more could you ask for?

Round 3. This one has proved a popular choice, which I’m picking for much the same reasons as Ross McD. This is a movie I can (and have) start watching again straight away as soon as it’s done. It’s full of energy, colour, great music, humour and heart. It’s a story about Truth, Freedom, Beauty and above all things Love. It’s Moulin Rouge.

Halfway through now, time for pick number 4. At some point during my time in isolation I’m going to get a craving for some Disney magic. It was a tough battle between this next film and Toy Story, but in the end I had to go for The Lion King. The score alone is enough to make me want to take it with me and it’s probably the last truly great Disney film before Pixar came along.

It’s getting a bit harder now. I’m trying not to over think my choices and just go on instinct.

So pick number 5. Well, I couldn’t have a list that didn’t have some Johnny Depp in now could I? I’ve got to take Pirates of the Caribbean with me (the original and the best) if only to remind me that being stranded on a desert island might not be the end of the world. Unless the Rum is gone.

Time for a sweeping score, wide angle landscape shots and some patriotic passion. If only I was Scottish. Braveheart is my 6th choice mainly because I never seem to get around to watching it. I love the film, but it does make me hate the English and try and claim a larger proportion of Celtic heritage than I’m due, but if I’m stuck on an island I might as well have something that reminds me of home (sort of)

Number 7 I think is going to have to be Billy Elliot. It’s my go to film when I’m feeling down. Full of great British actors and even better British music, it’s a beautiful story that reminds you that even when things look hopeless they can still turn out OK. Think that might come in handy.

Right. The last one. This is really tricky…

I think what this list is missing is a comic book movie, and if I’ve got to pick my favourite, I think it will have to be X2. Close run thing with Wolverine, but I think the former just has the edge.

And that’s it. I think with those 8 to keep me company I’d be quite happy on my island for a while.

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Award season is upon us. And apparently it’s not just the movie moguls dishing out awards, the lovely lads over at Ross vs Ross are sending them in my direction too!

I don’t know the full story of the “Kreativ Blogger Award.” It seems to be a kind of chain letter of back slapping for bloggers, but it’s always fun to have people write nice things about you and I don’t want to be the one to break the rules, so here they are, (strategically nicked from the Rosses themselves)

1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award.
2. Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3. Link to the person who nominated you for this award.
4. Name seven things about yourself that people might find interesting.
5. Nominate seven Kreativ Bloggers.
6. Post links to the seven blogs you nominate.
7. Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know they have been nominated.

Here we go then….

Thank you Ross McG. Thank you Ross McD. I don’t know which of you decided to put me on your list but I love you both for it and the nice things you said about me. You should all go and read their blog here

And there’s the logo. Cute innit? I learn from Carol that the original was “handmade from fabric scraps by a very creative Norwegian lady named Hulda.” So that’s nice.

As for linking to the Rosses. Well I’ve done that already.

7 interesting things about myself….right then….

um…

I am a middle child. People have a worrying tendency of being able to guess that fact

I am one of 4 members of the formidable Lego Fanclub pub quiz team. We were unbeaten in sixth place for many a season.

I play the saxophone. In the sense that I taught myself how to tame incoherent honking into slightly more ordered honking. I should probably take a few lessons…

Last year I saw The Killers live for free, and I plan to do something very similar again this Summer.

I have a ginger haired troll named Gary who was bought for me as a joke. He lives on top of my wardrobe and generally creeps everybody out.

I’ve been in 3 Operas and plan to be in another 5.

I can juggle. Oh yeah.

On with the nominations. Let the gushing begin.

I’ll start with the gents who began this. Ross vs Ross. For starters it’s a great idea for a blog. Two guys with the same name argue about which movie is better out of a similar pair. It’s such a good idea I’ve stolen it for my own blog before and probably will again. Until today I was under the impression their page had been up and running for much longer than mine, which shows how good it is and they always manage to make me laugh.

Faded Glamour. Winning enough awards of his own, Saam probably doesn’t need this one. But he’s gonna get it anyway. It started as a music blog and grew to include movies too (I like to think that’s my influence). Always very up to date and the person I expect to know about the really great movies and bands that I would otherwise miss out on.

Shortcake and Snap. This one has absolutely nothing to do with movies. Neha’s combined her two passions, food and photography, into one yummy blog that looks as delicious as the recipes taste. Great photos accompany top tips on how to cook and since it’s only been running a few months she gets bonus points for regular posting. I can personally vouch for the lavender cupcakes.

Daniel’s Critical Corner. This was one of the first blogs I found when I started this whole malarkey and it is guaranteed to make me laugh. All the way from Albuquerque, Daniel has his own unique take on movie reviewing which will get you thinking about your favourite films in ways you never have before. He deserves a nomination for his picture captions alone.

Movie Mobsters. This one is a recent discovery for me but I’m liking it more every time I go back. Countdowns, quotes, reviews and more from a team of talented writers. The page also looks great. I need an html tutorial

Fandango Groovers. I can always rely on Andy for a comment and a debate. His blog has given me some great ideas for posts of my own as well as drawing my attention to movies I’d never heard of.

Let’s Go to the Movies. Caz is a regualr updater who’s always on top of the news. One of my favourite features on her blog is the movie posters, always a teaser of great things to come. Her love of Gerard Butler might bias a few of the reviews, but who can blame her! Always has something I want to read and one of the first places I go.

And that’s that. If anyone actually knows anything about this “award” please fill me in. Let’s all carry on being lovely to eachother in a kind of facebook note-spam way.